Do you handle hazardous materials in your day to day life or job? If so, you should know the basics of safety when working with dangerous materials. The following tips are great for you to find out today and will start off your education in hazardous materials.

Image courtesy of Toa55 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. Pay attention during training! Even if you’ve worked with chemicals before, you can always use a brush up. Or, you may need to know new information about chemicals you’re not used to working with.

2. Pay close attention while you’re working with the chemicals. If hazardous materials are a common part of your job, it’s easy to get lax and simply go through the motions. However, it’s just as important to be extra safe the first time you handle chemicals as it is the hundredth time you handle them.

3. Before handling the materials, make sure that what’s inside the container is the same as what it’s labeled. If you find that something is labeled incorrectly, report it before doing anything else.

4. Read the MSDS (material safety data sheet) before using any materials.

5. Only use chemicals and materials for the purpose they’re intended for.

6. While handling chemicals, don’t eat or drink, use makeup, or handle anything that you’re going to be on your face or body. Even if you think your hands are clean, there could be traces of materials that could make you sick or hurt you. Always make sure to wash your hands thoroughly after working with hazardous materials.

7. Always store chemicals in dry, cool areas that have good ventilation.

8. At least one time every shift, clean all work surfaces to keep the risk of contamination as low as possible.

9. Even if you handle hazardous materials with as much care as possible, accidents still happen. Make sure that you know the proper emergency procedures so that you can respond to a problem right away.

Since safety precautions vary depending on what types of chemicals you’re working with, always make sure to follow the specific guidelines for exactly what you’re handling.

Addictions seem so personal at first, and we all have them. Shopping addictions, social media addictions, gaming addictions, addictions to chocolate or tomato sauce on absolutely everything; they become our crutches and compulsions, safety nets against an unforgiving world at the end of a long day or something to take the edge off. But what happens when we need to take the edge off the edge? When our reliable flavours turn against us and soon we’re doing absolutely anything to get a fix, a slither of relief, transforming a small escape into crushing dependence?

Internet Addiction

Nobody wants to be addicted, and no compulsion is completely harmless; a retail lover may end up thousands in debt and declare bankruptcy, severely affecting their chances of taking out a loan, scoring a contract phone or being approved for a credit card. Even rental housing may be a severe difficulty. A dedicated gamer may lose touch with their friends and family, put on weight and shut themselves into a room, emerging only for supplies. The effects of so-called big addictions then, sometimes require the intervention of a Non 12 Step Rehab Program and substantial family therapy charges. So how do drug and alcohol addictions affect family dynamics? It’s not simple, or one-size fits all, but there are a few emotional and psychological elements that are common sense to most situations.

The Financial Cost

Making ends meet is an up-hill battle for many families, balancing first and third notices, car repayments, mortgages or even utility and food bills. We all want to get ahead. When addiction starts to take hold, the substance become the first, second and third priority; sourcing it, paying for it, rinse and repeat. Drugs (including alcohol) are instantly gratifying and easy enough to access. As expenses climb, quality of life declines, as the addict sacrifices a month of electricity for a gram or skimps on new clothes or essential like food, just to score momentary relief. As we drown in our vices, it becomes harder to get the same buzz, meaning we spend more on ourselves than our families. It’s hard enough showing up for work hung over and dusky once in a blue moon; imagine a never-ending hang over and caveats of paranoia stumbling in on a heavy headache. Jobs are difficult to maintain when you’re only 30% invested in the work and otherwise distracted by thumping need.

The Emotional Cost

Living with our demons is hard. Subjecting our loved ones and friends to a helpless spectator seat as we become slave to our forty second buzz is something else entirely. Families are torn between enabling the habits of loved ones, indirectly supporting the addict by lending them money to get back on their feet, taking care of them or ignoring the symptoms to save confrontation. Partners are relegated to a passive carer status, tolerating bad behaviour, bailing their loved one out of lock up or shushing children, afraid of what the addict may do or say upon arriving home. The house becomes a war zone.

It is never too late to get help. Whether you’re suffering from an addiction or sit on the sidelines of somebody else’s whims, you are not alone. Google support groups in your local area, talk to fellow addicts and families, and begin to piece things back together, one fragment at a time.

by: Natalie Brown

There are some jobs that are so scary that there are only a few people who feel able to do them. These jobs require a certain amount of skill or put the person in danger while they are doing it, which means that they will often be paid a lot more money than if they were doing other jobs. Unfortunately, while not everyone wants to do the job, someone has to, and they are prepared to risk their life and limb to get the job done, no matter what.

Window cleaner

A window cleaner might sound like a pretty ordinary job but when you put it in the context of cleaning the windows of huge glass high rise buildings it looks a lot scarier. Window cleaners are usually put on a platform, sometimes hundreds of feet off the ground so that they can get to the outside of windows in buildings. Often the people who do this sort of job are trained climbers who enjoy the feeling of being suspended high above the ground. AMC Commercial Cleaning experts that do window cleaning are some of the most skilled at their job and need to be bold and fearless.

Pest control

For people who do pest control, there are often loads of risks involved with getting into small gaps under buildings, on rooves and coming face to face with different types of creepy crawlies. They often will be asked to remove venomous animals from dwellings and when they go to a job there is no telling what they may come across in the line of duty.

Police swat team

Being a member of a police swat team means that they are put into situations that would make most people run away in fear. Often swat teams are put into the line of gunfire, or are needed to remove violent criminals from causing harm to others. The risks involved as a member of a police swat team make this one of the scariest jobs in the world.

Forensic entomologist

A forensic entomologist is the person who needs to examine insects found on a dead body to determine cause of/and time of death. Their job involves getting up close and personal with the dead, and often by the time an insect has been on a dead body it is usually in a pretty horrible state. Often the insects are actually feeding on the flesh of the body which would make most peoples stomach turn if they had to get so close, but for these people, its business as usual.

Stock market

A job working on the stock market might seem like a pretty exciting, and glamorous job, according to the movies about it but in reality it is one of the scariest jobs in the world. While it is not scary in the sense of being put into dangerous situations, or coming face to face with deadly animals, or people, the pressure of responsibility makes this one of the scariest jobs in the world. This job is not for the feint hearted!

Introduction

Good health is good business. Healthy employees are more productive, and greater productivity increases profits. Unfortunately, over 50% of workplace deaths and disability worldwide occur from chronic diseases such as cancer, heart attacks, and diabetes. These diseases stem from poor lifestyle and diet choices, risk factors well within employees’ control. Since most employees spend 25-30% of their adult lives working, smart employers recognise that establishing employee wellness programs is an excellent way to reduce chronic diseases. Wellness programs focus on preventative measures and encourage employees to assume responsibility for their health. Employees’ participation in these programs reduces a company’s healthcare costs and increases productivity. If you’re interested in how you can start an employee wellness program, please consider the guidelines below.

Define your goals and expectations

What are your desired outcomes? Which risk factors do you want to address? What type of program is best for your organisation’s culture and workforce? Economic considerations will influence the scope of your program. For example, the owner of a small auto repair shop might address the risks of chemical exposure and physical hazards through a simple information-only wellness program involving videos, brochures and posters. A large employer, on the other hand, can afford a complex motivational program which includes premium incentives, such as an in-house exercise centre with state-of-the-art equipment and individualised nutritional coaching.

Ensure employee buy-in

Survey your employees to learn their concerns and desires. A well-designed survey will help you customise a wellness program that reflects your employees’ needs. Soliciting your employees’ input communicates respect and increases employee ownership. If your organisation supports unions, obtaining their input is also wise.

Ensure management buy-In

It’s important that senior- and middle-management support whatever wellness program is in place. What does senior management expect? What’s important to other key managers? Once senior management approves the wellness program, management need to tangibly support the program. Providing quality incentives, participating in promotional activities and acknowledging employees’ accomplishments powerfully demonstrate support to employees. When management consistently communicates the same message across all levels of the organisation, it reinforces the organisation’s commitment to wellness.

Offer Incentives

Incentives increase employee participation and motivate long-term behavior changes. Offering a door prize for attending a health webinar is an example of a participation incentive. Discounted health premiums, for example, may motivate employees to achieve a long-term goal of weight loss.

Evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of your wellness program

Assess your program at regular intervals. Some areas to monitor are participant feedback, participation rates, productivity and changes in employee attitudes. Surveys are an excellent method of evaluating your wellness program. Don’t be afraid to modify your program if feedback warrants it.

Starting an employee wellness program requires strategic planning, well-thought-out goals and ongoing evaluation. A wellness program is a waste of money if executed poorly. If executed well, your employees will thank you, and so will your bottom line.

In addition to a wellness program following occupational health and safety laws and regulations can help your business thrive by helping to keep employees productive and reducing health insurance and employee compensation costs. Visit HBA learning Centres to get started with a HBA diploma ohs. OPTIONAL

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of American Osteophatic Association. All opinions are 100% mine.

Blogging is a job that requires spending long hours (if not full time) sitting in front of a computer screen. The thing is, when you are engrossed with blogging, you tend to forget what is happening with your body and more often than not, this leaves bloggers with chronic pain on neck, shoulder and back at the end of the day.

Desk job pain problems are common not just to bloggers but to most workers as well with poor workplace habits and do desk jobs for long hours. A new survey from the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) found that more than 70 percent of office workers spend more than 5 hours sitting at their desks each day. And 2 in 5 office workers would not consider getting up from their desks if they needed to talk to a colleague, as if they are glued on their chair.

More than 100 million Americans live in pain unaware of the hazards of too much sitting. Sitting still for long hours strain not just the limbs and upper body but most especially the lower back by putting pressure on the disk supporting the spine which in some cases can be disabling.

To borrow AOA’s line, “Nothing is more important than the health of you and your family”. AOA cares so much to the health and well-being not just of their patients but of the general public as well thus they are launching a new phase of the Break Through Your Pain to spread awareness and help Americans avoid and prevent desk job pain. These are tools, tips and video series featuring Dr. Rob Donoff, an osteopatic family physician.

I encourage you to watch the above video entitled Stretch Away Your Workplace Pain. It is an easy and helpful demonstration how to position yourself at your desk to eliminate desk job pain problems. It is effective also in relieving stress and maintaining flexibility.

I know most of you have sedentary work life that requires sitting still for long hours. If you want to help in spreading awareness on how to ease work related pains, feel free to share this post on your social networks.